Johnny Lin, producer of the upcoming sci-fi thriller Rise and psychological thriller Sacrifice, has acquired the rights to the script which was featured on the coveted Black List, the annual ranking of Hollywood’s best unproduced scripts. Lin and his Filmula Entertainment will fully finance and produce the project.

The story follows a young girl who, after being told that Santa Claus isn’t real on Christmas Eve, is kidnapped by an evil elf named Bucklebee. After escaping, the young girl teams up with a good elf, a reindeer and a Russian explorer to rescue Santa from a band of evil elves and save the North Pole.

Laudiero and Baker are repped by WME.

Lin is also co-producing and co-financing Mexican Revolution thriller Todd Field-directed The Creed of Violence, a remake of the 1978 action adventure The Wild Geese. Lin will work with New Republic’s Brian Oliver, whose first look deal with Paramount was announced at Cannes Tuesday.